Here is an overview of the current wildfire situation surrounding the Mediterranean coastline.
Two Canadair pilots lost their lives when their aircraft crashed, and on Tuesday, the body of a man was discovered charred in Greece. The country is currently facing severe wildfires that have been devastating the region, compounded by a ten-day heatwave.
Pilots killed in firefighting plane crash
As firefighters battled a forest fire on the southern part of Euboea island, a water-bombing aircraft tragically crashed into a ravine. The incident occurred on Tuesday, and it involved hundreds of firefighters and four planes working relentlessly to combat the flames on the island near Athens.
On this very island, the charred body of a third victim was also discovered.
The heart-wrenching scenes of scorched forests and vegetation have deeply impacted Greece as a whole, prompting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to emphasize that the fight against the fires will continue to be challenging.
In the capital city of Athens the mercury soared to 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), and reached up to 44C in central Greece, according to the national weather forecaster EMY.
The mercury hit 46.4C in Gythio, in the southern Peloponnese peninsula on Sunday, though failed to reach the hottest temperature nationally on record of 48C.
Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu on Monday, after tens of thousands of people had already fled blazes on the island of Rhodes, with many frightened tourists scrambling to get home on evacuation flights.
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Throughout Tuesday night and into Wednesday, firefighters fought tirelessly against a raging wildfire, exacerbated by strong gusts of wind, putting three villages in Upper Corsica, a French department situated on the island of Corsica (south), at risk.
The fires posed a significant threat to three villages - Corbara, Pigna, and Santa-Reparata-Di-Balagna. Particularly concerning were two hamlets within close proximity to the flames, which contained many sensitive spots, residential areas, and religious sites, according to the firefighters’ reports.
As of the latest update, approximately 130 hectares of vegetation have been ravaged by the inferno.
A scorching heatwave is affecting southern Italy, where a temperature of 47.6°C was recorded in Catane, Sicily on Monday.
On Tuesday evening, media outlets reported that the remains of two individuals in their seventies were discovered charred in a house engulfed by the fire, while an 88-year-old woman lost her life near Palermo.
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, Sicilian firefighters fought against multiple fires, one of which came dangerously close to the Palermo airport, leading to its closure for several hours in the morning.
The President of the Sicilian region, Renato Schifani, stated his intention to ask the government, which will convene in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, to declare a state of emergency on the Mediterranean island.
In Algeria, the firefighting efforts continued on Tuesday evening as they battled to extinguish 11 fire outbreaks that have devastated the northeast. While they have managed to bring most of the fires under control, the three-day toll stands at a tragic 34 deaths.
Although significant progress has been made in containing the fires, 11 active outbreaks still persist in seven prefectures across the northern and eastern regions of the country.
Severe fires have raged through the mountain forests of the Kabylia region on the Mediterranean coast, fanned by winds during blistering summer heat that peaked at 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) Monday.
Distressing media footage displays fields and vegetation ablaze, cars reduced to ashes, and shops completely destroyed.
In Toudja, situated in the northeast, where 16 people lost their lives, the fire has been almost fully contained, with only a few remaining hotspots. For two days, firefighting planes have been diligently dropping water over this wooded area located on the Mediterranean coast in the Béjaïa prefecture.
Northern and eastern Algeria battle forest fires every summer, but they have been exacerbated by this year’s Mediterranean heatwave.
Serious fires have also raged in recent days in neighbouring Tunisia, especially the northwestern Tabarka region.
